Photo: Petr Ruzavin / Mediazona
In Izyum, liberated from the occupation, the bodies of killed local residents and Ukrainian soldiers buried in the forest were exhumed. According to the prosecutor of the Kharkiv region Oleksandr Filchakov, a total of 445 graves of civilians and one mass grave were found, in which servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were buried. He spoke about this in an interview with Current Time.
The exhumation of the bodies is carried out by ten investigative and prosecutorial teams, which include, in particular, criminologists and forensic experts. According to Filchakov, traces of violence were found on the bodies of civilians. “In the first grave that was opened, a rope was found on the body of the deceased, around the neck. And there are fractures on the limbs of the corpse. That is, it may indicate a violent death, ”says Filchakov.
Many burials were made by the locals themselves, reburying people from yards and streets. In particular, such work was carried out by employees of ritual organizations who did not evacuate the city.
There are children among the buried. In particular, the whole Stolpakov family is buried in the forest - the father was born in 1988, the mother was born in 1991 and their two daughters were killed on March 9. Elena, Dmitry, two girls, Elena's parents, her younger sister and grandmother were in the basement, which was filled up as a result of shelling, the newspaper writes. Their groans were heard, but it was not possible to dismantle the rubble and save the family.